InsaneJournal

Ysmir is covered in a multitude of scars, from head to toe. Most of them are from battles in the Civil War, but plenty others have come from other fights as well, ranging from "humanoids" to the wild beasts that roam the woods of Skyrim. Some of them look like they should have been his undoing, and some are "burn scars" rather than that which came from a blade.

Now, we know most other Nords in Skyrim have a bit of a problem with magic. They don’t like it, they don’t trust it, and some even suspect it’s the reason the bulk of the city Winterhold lays wasted in the Sea of Ghosts. Ysmir… is indifferent to it. He’ll use it and he’s okay with magic but he’s not a mage by any means. In ways, he even respects the mages in a way. Oftentimes, they wear no armor - just their robes and they protect or shield themselves in other, possibly riskier ways (wards, ‘oakflesh’ spells, invisibility spells).

That being said, the "school of magic" he uses most is that of Restoration.

In my opinion, the "healing factor" of restoration works a little like this:

The healing spells do not reverse your injuries, they simply accelerate the healing pace (or perhaps stop the bleeding on blade-inflicted wounds), depending on how "strong" the spell is. Weaker spells (such as the generic healing spell or the ‘healing hands’ spell) are good for closing minor to moderate cuts and gashes (where stitches might be necessary), and healing over first-degree burns. Stronger spells (such as Close Wounds) are better in events where your injury is severe and you could possibly die without immediate medical attention.

Even so, stronger healing spells can only do so much, and you have to have a window of time long enough to use the spell if you’re in the middle of a fight. For the Dragonborn, getting that window of time could be simple as using the Thu’um to become ethereal momentarily and finding a place to "hide" in order to heal themselves. For all others, your chances of survival depends solely on your injury, and hopefully there is someone else with you that knows a healing spell to help you.

As for using Restoration on gashes and cuts, healing spells help to close the wounds quicker but you’re still left with a faint line of scar tissue where the flesh "knit together". Burn wounds are accelerated through the various stages of healing and can be painful depending on how severe the burn was (blistering, etc) but you’re still left with some remnants if the burn was more severe than a "first-degree burn". Second and third-degree burns might leave a faint outline of the edges but first-degree burns leave no physical trace.